Full disclosure: not only do I like annoying music, but sometimes I like annoying videos. Below- Chumbawamba, Spin Doctors, and Amy Grant. Maybe you should cover your ears.

For this Video Friday, I was initially planning to post videos of music I play when I need to make myself concentrate and work - songs with drive/ pace and something extra - one was very sweet and dreamy (Minus the Bear's "This Ain't A Surfin' Movie"), one was ridiculously filthy when you dig into the lyrics (ok, it was Snoop Dogg's "It Ain't No Fun"), and the third + possibly fourth would hearken back to my wake-up music in college - Radiohead's "Bones" and Hum's "I'd Like Your Hair Long."

In looking for a video of Hum's "I'd Like Your Hair Long," I saw something that made me sad and almost pissy - they did a damned reunion show at the Double Door, down the street from my damned house, at New Years! Granted, I had a GREAT time at New Years with friends at Ginger's Bar, but - HUM! I would not have wanted to subject my wife to that, necessarily. The first time I saw them they were 15 minutes late, started "Why I Like the Robins," and then soundchecked again for 35 minutes before providing a sonic assault that was worth it. The second time I saw them, the crowd was out of control. It was a $1.05 show in St. Louis for The Point 105 that brought in a rowdy crowd-surf -wannabe crowd and it really ruined the music, coupled with the crap soundsystem at the Side Door or wherever they played.

Bu. I could have seen them. Maybe they'll do it again; they were a Champaign band and probably live up here now. So in honor of the show I missed, three songs that get me going, with bands I would love to see if they reunited and came around to play CHI. The last one will be Hum. The first two will be Velocity Girl (with the cute LOW budget video for Crazy Town) and Faith No More with Surprise! You're Dead!

( yes I am stuck in the mid 90s. )

Chris T showed me the site Nuggets of the Future, filed with alt-rock faves from the early 90s. The listing of the Posies' "Solar Sister" and the band Revolver inspired me to look back at some videos from back then... which seem to be mostly British, so I'll break it up with some Americans as well.

( lush, teenage fanclub, blur, and dinosaur jr )

Boy, maybe we should start thinking about a costume or something.

LJ's technical difficulties got in the way of a morning post.

It's raining and apparently, people like to make songs about rain. Rain is sad and is the right music for screams, sadness, and the like. Obviously, rain is a mood-alterer... but why rain means lost love is a little lost on me. I've never been broken up with on a rainy day. It's always sunny. And I have had fun days in the rain.

Now, some rain themed videos from Madonna, the Eurythmics, Led Zeppelin, and Dr. Buzzard... I couldn't put on the Blind Melon, Guns N' Roses, Milli Vanilli, or Ludacris' Splash Waterfalls, which is not about rain, but was originally going to be the centerpiece of this video Friday.

You have a good rain song/ video? link it in the comments.

( showering you with video goodness )

Pew Research has a nice interactive graph on marriages, divorces, multiple marriage. Those folks in Arkansas sure like their marrying!

Link (in flash)

It's apparently national boss day. So, some boss related videos. I thought about Jay-Z, who is the boss of popular hip hop, but Run This Town (with Rihanna + Kanye) is just terrible. I would add Bruce Springsteen, but his shtick is very working man - not very boss-like.

Instead, one from Rick Ross - obsessed with being the boss. And one from Snoop's Paid da Cost to be Da Boss, and picked for4 the Brazilian scenery... and because I think it's one of the finest songs Snoop and Pharell both have done.
( Bosses rapping )

I started this video Friday by remembering the other video I had wanted to post last week, with Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack". I posted that video because it was just not what I expected from the song, which came off as sad, hurt, and vulnerable; but the "mack" image took over the video, and it was a bunch of fellas in leather jackets looking hard... with smatterings of women. You know, just so you know they're not gay. Even though it seems like that this woman, and maybe other women, cannot be trusted... maybe they can only trust their boys.

The other video that was not quite what I expected - and I shouldn't have expected more - was the Luniz' "I Got 5 on It". It's the most mournful-sounding song about how people expect the person with the bag of weed to share without contributing to the expense, avoiding one's parole officer, and just getting to the point where a fella can sit back and get his windows foggy with blunt smoke.  It's the great American problem, really, the easy socialism of potheads who need governance.
( more on the Luniz, Timex Social Club, and Whodini )

(I'm in a rush, so only two videos - do you have a video that looks nothing like what you expected it to? Please comment and embed the video.)

You know when you see a video and it seems to not have a damned thing to do with the actual song? Or it is just not what you expected? I bet you have one like that.
( more on Mark Morrison and how the video was not what I expected )

While I am looking up various methods for conference calls and working on some web stuff with a deadline, I'll make a video Friday post. Obviously, nothing can be more productive than that.

So mid 90's dancehall is today's theme, but mostly smoother sounds - Half Pint, Barrington Levy, and then the less smooth Cutty Ranks, an early bit of the bragging semi-gangster riddims that were popular, at least in New York, whenever you went out dancing or hanging out in Brooklyn (or around Jamaicans/ Trinnies/ other Caribs).

Last night we had a friend over for dinner, and I tend to make music playlists with the guest in mind. But she likes reggae, world music, salsa... much of which I don't have (and what I do have is corny, American radio-friendly tracks). But I do have a little reggae, so I dug in the e-crates and came out with some Jimmy Cliff and Half Pint, some Barrington Levy, some Desmond Dekker, and more obscure Bob Marley (I love the song "One Cup of Coffee", from his ska days). Videos after the jump.
( video Friday, Island feel )

So I am thinking through ice cream flavors that I might make this weekend for a few friends (and our guest, Quiggles14). So naturally, I went to Raekwon and Meth doing "Ice Cream". I don't think I remember the video including so many dancing women, but it makes sense. "Classic" song. Oh the spirit of hip hop was strong then, not like now with the kids and their - wait, besides the lyrics and the accent (more Durty South than Brooklyn, perhaps), it ain't that different.




The other thing I was looking for is the completely immature Doo-Doo Brown, but that's just not tasty... so I saw on the YouTube side bar a connect for Craig Mack's "Flava in Your Ear". I always mimicked his dance by the Unishphere (is that what it's called, the globe in Flushing Meadows Park from the World's Fair?), and it's not even a good dance.

I'll keep it short and simple. Recently I have had one song in my head - Bruce Hornsby and the Range's "The Way It Is"; one that I have finally gotten past listening to (because it's really not very good) - the All Saints' "I Know Where It's At," along with a MUCH better video, TLC's "No Scrubs"; and one that I love when it comes on shuffle - The Horrors' "Who Can Say". Enjoy after the jump.

( music videos below )

A bit cranky today, in part because I woke at 4 AM to find our dog is a bit sick. Then couldn't get back to bed, thinking on a number of sad things happening to other people (and hoping Sasha gets well). Came in to work, was listening to some depressing music and decided -it's time to counter this with a video Friday. So, some hopeful and joyful videos. Well... the first one's not all that happy but the others are peppy.

Today's videos: Bettie Serveert's "Ray Ray Rain"; The Russian Futurists' "Paul Simon"; the Go! Team's "Ladyflash."

( videos after the jump )

A post on Facebook from doraphilia's friend reminded me of some of my favorite early 80's jams. So here you go, Friday videos. One video from Evelyn "Champagne" King with "Love Come Down", which is a song I don't know if I thought was the jam when I was 6 or 7, but I have dug for a while now.

Next is the SOS band with "Take Your Time (Do It Right)," a song that stuck in my memory for a while when I was young - it's repetitive, but at that age you don't really remember the lyrics correctly. And mixed in with all the 80's jingles from commercials and theme songs... I think the lyric and tune part of my brain was polluted. but this jam popped up often on the urban contemporary station (specifically 107.5, W B! LS. That smooth announcer's voice gets your attention).

And from a few years later is the Whispers with "Rock Steady." I don't think I knew it was new when I heard it, even though the song sounds like a late 80's jam, not so different from Bobby Brown's or Janet's bigger-sound hits, or later New Edition. But whenever I have an uptempo gathering - and I can always hold out hope that it will happen again, even though I am probably too old for that s**t like Danny Glover - this will be the "put it in high gear" jam.

Okay, I'm going to the restroom to dance for a minute.

Evelyn "Champagne" King's Love Come Down video



The SOS Band on Soul Train



The Whispers' "Rock Steady." Disregard the fact that they look like some old men trying to look relevant, as they begin to Rock! Steady... steady rockin' all night long.

I posted last week's a little early; go back and check out Babyface's "Whip Appeal" and Snoop's "Doggy Dogg World."

This week: Starship.  I personally have loved "We Built This City" for a long time, one of those earworms that gets lodged in your head from when you're 10 (or whenever that came out... maybe earlier?) and you hum, not knowing the words, filling in gaps with things that you think make sense.  It's a big song, doesn't mean a damned thing.

Last week, we saw happinesstogo for a couple of hours, bleary eyed after the flight back from Spain. She had found the VH1 Classic channel and there were... videos!  "We Built This City" came on, and I was the only person that really enjoyed the song. But something funny happened - I realize that I don't think I have seen the video in a long time.  And boy, does this video just not hold up.

The hair!
The dancing!
The strange overlay of faces that doesn't mean very much!
The serious sorta-multiracial cast of "the city!"
The stares at... the stars?
Why are they SINGING TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN? Does he represent freedom?
Running from falling dice?
(The only thing I like is the aggregate city background.)


Bonus: we also saw Bonham's (as in the Zeppelin drummer's son) "Wait For You." I forgot that I liked that song... I still think it's catchy for hair metal. I'm not sure why they're rocking out in front of a T... and why someone doesn't put out that damned fire, someone's hairspray's gonna go up in flames! (Also, that woman is just not wisely dressed for... anywhere.)

I'll be out of town on Friday but wanted to post a pair of videos for your pre-Memorial Day enjoyment. Both have a "big show", old school feel, and both are... slightly, well, man-centered. The Snoop Dogg video, you could have guessed at. But watch in that Babyface video how all the women around him - and in the distance - seem to melt from the touch of his voice. Kind of creepy. But I love that song.

Babyface, Whip Appeal


Babyface - Whip Appeal (Official Music Video) - More free videos are here

Snoop Dogg, Doggy Dogg World

Last week, personaljinx suggested Hi-5 for this week's video Friday. I'm more in a "Doggy Dogg World" mood, but I can oblige; because I can talk to Hi-5 and how I thought they were a mediocre version of that R&B bubblegum sound that was popular for a lot of the 80s and 90s. I am somewhat happy for the more rap-influenced, baby-mama-drama style of R&B, because this saccharine stuff can get really tired, and is a departure from the dirt of the blues, of soul, of 70's funk. It feels like a studio lie.

Hi-5's "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" was probably their most famous song. The video is strange to me - I think those adult women in the video are beyond "the kissing game." Part of this is that the song came out in 1991, and my 15 year old self was not feeling that hormone-suppressed cuteness. Really, I thought it had the quality of the California Dreams theme song (video link).

Around the same time (and also out of Texas, apparently, like Hi-5), Tevin Campbell dropped "Round and Round," a Prince-produced ditty that I still find catchy. I mean, look at that big-ass suit jacket! And those opening notes! Still a little cute, but very pleasant. And when he matured and released Can We Talk? That might be one of my favorite ballads... of course, because it was written by Babyface, one of the few people who can craft a badass ballad. One day, we're gonna have ballad day here with Babyface's "Whip Appeal."

And last, while it's not my absolute favorite song, I must post New Edition's "Cool It Now." Because who brought back those bubblegum sounds in the 80's quite like they did? Ralph Tresvant and Bobby Brown were obviously the pretty boys in the group. Check out Bobby's pants, they're blue, I think. And Bell Biv Devoe... well, they were not the pretty boys. As for the song itself, you cannot say that "Cool It Now" doesn't make you want to dance. Just a little.

Before the videos, I'll add an audio link to Foster Sylvers' (little brother and occasional member of the Sylvers, a minor rival to the Jackson 5) "Misdemeanor." Total 1973 R&B, oft-sampled, fantastic song. Check it out after the jump.( videos under the cut )

Watch American Idol.

Drink a full glass of whatever whenever Kara DioGuardi asks a rhetorical question.  "Do I want to drink a whole martini at once...[drawn out, kinda whiny pause]? No.  But will I...? *GLUGGLUGGLUG*

Sorry for missing Video Friday - I was drinking with co-workers and having a good old time. 

I was thinking of posting a slow jam or two - something Keith Sweat, or High-5, something along those lines.  But while hanging out with koritsimou and detlef, the majesty of Ginuwine's video for "Pony" came up.  It was a silly video, complete with the tour bus' friend/ roadie/ supplier? taking the singer and crew to some honky tonk.  Then again, there was a motorized saddle to ride, so that must have been the impetus. 

The lyrics are here, and now for the video:

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Does this make you think of any other R & B videos where you want to yell at your screen, "that's not even THINLY veiled?!!!"

And thanks to Gulshan's comment, Next's Too Close. The video's not that scandalous but the lyrics are about a guy who is... "too excited."

As many of my friends know, I listened to a whole lot of hair metal back in the day. You don't need to continue with this post if you don't want to read about hair metal - acquired taste, after all.

( Three videos from that 88-91 era and some commentary )